Chapter 41: Chapter 29: Seven-step Fragrance
Translator: 549690339
Having obtained the Seven-step fragrance, Lu Yuan’s goal for this trip was accomplished, and he lost interest in strolling around the city. Instead, he felt uneasy, as if he were carrying a treasure and feared that others might rob him.
Despite knowing that this feeling was just his imagination, he couldn’t help it.
But in order to calm his nerves, he hastened his steps back to Yangmei Town.
It wasn’t until half an hour later when he saw the small town nestled in the valley that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Upon returning home, Lu Yuan began boiling the herbs needed for his Inner
Strength cultivation while simultaneously studying the Seven-step fragrance formula he had purchased for a hundred silver taels.
“According to the formula, there are two ways to make Seven-step fragrance. One is to make it into incense sticks, which can be lit to release a sedative smoke. The other is to make it into sedative powder that can be added into food or drink to deceive people.
Both types of Seven-step fragrance have their advantages…”
Lu Yuan flipped through the yellowed sheets of paper in his hand.
The paper was covered in over two thousand characters, detailing all sorts of formulas and production processes. It even kindly provided several methods of using a sedative, making it a mini-guide to sedatives.
After roughly reading through the formula, he put it away and took out the drug ingredients that Zhou Ze had gifted him when he bought the formula. He began to verify and confirm them.
Having consumed various herbs for over a year, Lu Yuan had gained a certain understanding of them.
Though this understanding was still limited, he was no longer completely in the dark when it came to identifying herbs.
He may not be able to diagnose and prescribe medicine to treat people’s illnesses, but recognizing a few herbs was not difficult.
At this point, he pulled out his Wån Fäng Yåo Gäng, a medical manual he had purchased for a silver tael, and with thick pages opened, he slowly identified each herb.
“Red Line Snake Venom, Seven Illusion Petals, Four-legged Insect Skin, Bitter Scale Fruit…”
After checking all the ingredients, Lu Yuan confirmed that the herbs listed in the formula were all present.
Relieved that he didn’t have to search for and purchase them himself, he couldn’t help but praise Zhou Ze as a kind -hearted man.
It was no simple task to gather the 31 ingredients needed for the Seven-step fragrance formula, not to mention that purchasing the herbs alone would be quite expensive.
Having bought various herbs for a year, Lu Yuan had a rough idea of their prices.
To gather all the herbs needed for the Seven-step fragrance, at least 60 or 70 silver taels would be required at a minimum.
And this figure only reflected the cost price.
“Especially for Bitter Scale Fruit and Ghost Face Tree Resin, which are quite rare and only found in the Xichuan region thousands of miles away. Acquiring them would take a lot of effort.
The fact that Zhou Ze managed to gather these ingredients indicates that the seemingly gentle and elegant doctor has a hidden side unknown to others.”
Lu Yuan recalled Zhou Ze’s refined and gentle face, then looked at the various sedatives in front of him, feeling a sense of dissonance.
Should it serve as a reminder not to judge a book by its cover, and never underestimate anyone?
If he hadn’t purchased the sedative from Zhou Ze today and witnessed it with his own eyes, he might not have believed that the seemingly well-mannered man was secretly producing sedatives.
“Nonetheless, it makes sense. As a doctor, he often treats people from the Jianghu. Those people are ruthless and engaged in life-threatening work.
Though they may not be murderous, they are certainly ruthless and cunning.
Consistently interacting with these people would make one wonder if he was protecting himself. ”
At this point, Lu Yuan was sure that Zhou Ze must have prepared sedatives, perhaps both powder and incense stick forms.
But to this, he had no objection.
Both he and Zhou Ze were producing sedatives in private for their own self-preservation.
They were not actively using them to harm others.
What could be wrong about someone using effective means to protect themselves?
Whether others agreed or not, Lu Yuan felt there was nothing wrong with it.
Not only was it not wrong, at that moment, he was prepared to have such insurance for himself.
“So, Zhou Ze is indeed a kind-hearted person.”
With a sigh, Lu Yuan picked up a Bitter Scale Fruit and threw it into the Copper Bowl used for grinding medicine. He then took up a Copper Pestle and started grinding according to the instructions in the formula.
Zhou Ze had collected all the ingredients needed for the Seven-step fragrance, so when Lu Yuan bought the formula, it was essentially the same as buying the ingredients.
The ingredients costing 60 or 70 silver taels, plus various other costs, made the purchase of the Seven-step fragrance for 100 silver taels quite justified.
Although it seemed like he was buying a sedative today, in reality, it was Zhou Ze who did a good deed by giving him the sedative formula for free.
Such an act deserved to be called kind-hearted.
Creating the Seven-step fragrance was an extremely tedious and lengthy process.
According to the formula, there were as many as thirteen steps involved in processing the various herbs. These steps included drying, soaking, grinding, boiling, roasting, purifying, and so on.
Just going through these processes would take a considerable amount of time.
Once the herbs were processed, the subsequent steps, like adjusting the proportion of the ingredients, blending their properties, controlling the temperature and timing, were also time-consuming.
If there is even a slight error in any of the multiple processes above, the drug-making would fail.
Previously when Lu Yuan dealt with herbs, he would simply cook the cultivation herbs he bought in a sand pot and drink the concoction..